The life of a teacher is fast and furious. Your career may begin with a full teaching load and little time to think about your practice. You may wonder how you will use these experiences to improve as a teacher. A major source of learning for teachers is their efforts to REFLECT on their practice. If you carve out time to think about how you might improve every day, every lesson, every unit, you will get better faster. To hone your reflection skills, we would like you to create a series of journal entries as you begin to work in your classrooms this semester. For each of these entries, we'd like you to observe specific characteristics of your cooperating teacher's (CT's) classroom and reflect on these observations.
As you visit your schools early in the semester, you should "be a sponge" and learn as much about the students, teacher and school as your can. Each week, we ask you to pay attention to one characteristic of your classes to observe and reflect upon.
By observation, we mean that we would like to write a paragraph or twodescribing what you saw (or discussed with your CT) that answers the questions we provide.
By reflection, we mean that we would like you to write a paragraph or two that interprets your observations, and evaluates them based on either what you intend to do when you have your own class our in light of what we are reading and talking about in class.
For each Observation/Reflection (O/R) assignment please copy the question prompt from this page and then use the appropriate entry link. When you begin editing your new page, PASTE the prompt and then include your answer.
Observation/Reflection #1: Starting From the Beginning
How a teacher greets students, takes care of logistics, and begins his or her lessons is CRUCIAL! During this observation, focus on how class begins. Where is your CT before class begins? What is he or she doing? Using the clock on the wall, determine when your CT establishes order and begins class. How did she/he start their lesson? How is homework from the previous night reviewed/collected/assessed? How does your CT engage students during the opening of the lesson?
Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.
What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement? How will use your proximity to provide feedback and manage student behavior?
Please post your observations and reflections using these links
During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observe a laboratory activity or base your answer on past visits. How does your CT conduct a typical laboratory activity? How does he or she open the activity and organize student groups? How do students learn what they're expected to do during the period? Reflect on your reading about the NGSS science and engineering practices. What science practices do you want to stress when you're teaching?
In The Passionate Teacher, Ron Fried describes the Game of School (GOS) as what happens when teachers and students forsake intellectual work and instead engage in their classes as rituals. Take this opportunity to consider this chapter in light of some of the the other experiences that you've had this semester to answer at
least three of the following questions:
What elements of the game of school are you seeing in your placements?
How have you seen teachers fight the game of school in their classes?
What features can you plan into your units that might discourage the GOS?
Finally, what impact will this description of the GOS have on your own approach to teaching as expressed in your teaching philosophy?
If you have already read the GOS, you can read another teacher's GOS thoughts (an other's comments) and reflect some more. Now that you are planning your unit, how has your thinking about the GOS prepared you for the task?
Observation / Reflection #5: What Did Students Learn?
For this reflection, use the Artifact Analysis/Reflection page in our shared Evernote notebook and your phone/ipad camera to capture a photo of a student's complete worksheet, analyze the worksheet and the student's answers, and reflect on what the student has learned from the class activity.
Observation / Reflection #6: Wrapping Up and Showing Off
This week, finish up any posts you need to do and then assemble your work in your student profile. Use the template called "EDC 430 Student Profile" to create a profile that presents your work and observations for this class on a single page.
Observations and Reflections
The life of a teacher is fast and furious. Your career may begin with a full teaching load and little time to think about your practice. You may wonder how you will use these experiences to improve as a teacher. A major source of learning for teachers is their efforts to REFLECT on their practice. If you carve out time to think about how you might improve every day, every lesson, every unit, you will get better faster. To hone your reflection skills, we would like you to create a series of journal entries as you begin to work in your classrooms this semester. For each of these entries, we'd like you to observe specific characteristics of your cooperating teacher's (CT's) classroom and reflect on these observations.As you visit your schools early in the semester, you should "be a sponge" and learn as much about the students, teacher and school as your can. Each week, we ask you to pay attention to one characteristic of your classes to observe and reflect upon.
For each Observation/Reflection (O/R) assignment please copy the question prompt from this page and then use the appropriate entry link. When you begin editing your new page, PASTE the prompt and then include your answer.
Observation/Reflection #1: Starting From the Beginning
How a teacher greets students, takes care of logistics, and begins his or her lessons is CRUCIAL! During this observation, focus on how class begins. Where is your CT before class begins? What is he or she doing? Using the clock on the wall, determine when your CT establishes order and begins class. How did she/he start their lesson? How is homework from the previous night reviewed/collected/assessed? How does your CT engage students during the opening of the lesson?Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement? How will use your proximity to provide feedback and manage student behavior?
Please post your observations and reflections using these links
Observation/Reflection #3: A Matter of Style
Choose one of the prompts below:Observation / Reflection #4: The Game of School
In The Passionate Teacher, Ron Fried describes the Game of School (GOS) as what happens when teachers and students forsake intellectual work and instead engage in their classes as rituals. Take this opportunity to consider this chapter in light of some of the the other experiences that you've had this semester to answer atleast three of the following questions:
The chapter can be found here:
- Fried, R. L. (2001). The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide (2nd ed.). Beacon Press.
- Printable PDF
If you have already read the GOS, you can read another teacher's GOS thoughts (an other's comments) and reflect some more. Now that you are planning your unit, how has your thinking about the GOS prepared you for the task?Observation / Reflection #5: What Did Students Learn?
For this reflection, use the Artifact Analysis/Reflection page in our shared Evernote notebook and your phone/ipad camera to capture a photo of a student's complete worksheet, analyze the worksheet and the student's answers, and reflect on what the student has learned from the class activity.Observation / Reflection #6: Wrapping Up and Showing Off
This week, finish up any posts you need to do and then assemble your work in your student profile.Use the template called "EDC 430 Student Profile" to create a profile that presents your work and observations for this class on a single page.